


The Girl Who Was A Shadow

by Smokeycut



Series: Cassandra Cain Adoption Fics [2]
Category: Batman - Fandom
Genre: Elseworld-canon divergence, Takes place immediately after the League Of Shadows arc of Detective Comics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 11:18:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10875681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smokeycut/pseuds/Smokeycut
Summary: When Cassandra vanishes, Bruce realizes that he needs to pay more attention to the people in his life.





	The Girl Who Was A Shadow

It had been a week since the League of Shadows was defeated. One week since Shiva, Sandra Wu-San, had been killed in front of her daughter. Cassandra's face had been splattered with the blood and it _burned_. One week since she had told Batman she was okay in that dark, disgusting tunnel. One week since she had lied to him. 

Kate and Bruce arrived at the ballet precisely on time, and were met by a woman named Christine. She told them she was a friend of Cassandra's, that she was a dancer, that she was so excited for Cassandra to see the performance. She asked them where Cassandra was, and the excitement on her face quickly turned to worry as Bruce and Kate exchanged glances. Cassandra had told them she would be with Christine. Cassandra had told Christine she would be with them. Where was she? Did she think they wouldn't figure it out when she was nowhere to be seen? Bruce excused himself and drove off into the night, his jaw clenched and his heart pounding in his chest. Something wasn't right. What did Shiva tell her? 

He searched for her all night, leaving the crime to his allies. They were all out tonight, maybe she was with them? Perhaps Cassandra had simply forgotten when the ballet was? But the looks of confusion that Azrael and Clayface wore proved that wrong. It was only when he went back to the sewer that he found her. Sitting knee deep in the filth. Cassandra, wearing armor that was too small, as if it had been crafted for her before she hit puberty. The armor she wore as Orphan, cracked and stained and spattered with blood. Her mother's blood. The blood that had burned hot on her skin just a week before.

"Cassandra?" He reached out, anxiety etched across his face. Last time he had tracked her down, she beat him senseless in a rage. 

She didn't respond. Her shoulders were sagging and her head was hanging low. Unkempt hair hung as well, obscuring her face. Obscuring her tears. But he heard them. The ragged sobbing that held a hint of rage. She curled up further, bringing herself closer to the dirty water and shutting her eyes as tight as she could. As if it would make him disappear. All she wanted was for everything to just disappear. 

"Cassandra, are you okay?" He asked, kneeling down to her level and gently laying a hand across her back. She had promised him she was okay, that whatever Shiva told her had made it okay. When she splintered his ulna he realized that it had been a lie. When she cracked his tibia with her boot he knew that Ra's was right. She was filled with rage. It was dripping from her like the sewer water that fell from her armor. A backhanded strike left him on his side as she stood. Even standing above him like this, she didn't look tall. No, but she looked just like her mother. The same fury burned in her eyes.

"You don't care," she seethed, each word a struggle to get out. "Never. Just... a weapon."

He didn't have a chance to respond before she was gone. She was hidden in the shadows, and no matter how hard his eyes searched, he couldn't find a trace of the girl. He had lost her.

•••

The search for Cassandra quickly became a top priority. Harper and Christine were worried out of their minds. Stephanie began keeping an eye out while on her own patrols, a temporary truce with the batfamily. Bruce said that he feared she was following the path that Shiva once took, that unless they found her she could end up being their most fearsome opponent. Dick knew him better than to believe that.

"You feel guilty." His accusation rang out in the cave for all to hear. "You lost Tim, you lost Steph, and now you've lost her. Only this time it's nobody's fault but your own."

Bruce didn't have a response, nor did he think he deserved one. He knew it was true. They all did. Tim chose to give his life. Stephanie was turned against them by The First Victim. Cassandra left because he didn't care. Not about her. Not enough. Bruce was silent as he walked away. They found him a day later, holding Cassandra's mask in his hands and unresponsive to anything they said.

•••

It was a month later, in Ivy Town, that someone posted a picture of a girl on Spoiler Alert. It was Cassandra, shattering an attempted mass shooter's kneecap. Batman was in Ivy Town by the end of the day, asking questions and searching for her. Trying desperately to find her trail. She left none.

•••

It was three weeks after that, when Bruce was in his study at Wayne Manor, that he saw her again. He was thinking about what his father had told him, that he needed to be a parent to his children. He wondered if his father had been right. A cough from just outside the window alerted him to someone outside, curled up on the grass. Cassandra, her armor torn and dented worse than when he last saw her in the sewer, all those weeks ago. Her face was gaunt and her hair was dirty. She hadn't eaten in days, and it showed. She didn't look at him, she just kept her head buried in her arms. She only reacted when he draped a coat over her shoulders, far too big for her, but warm enough that she didn't care. She pulled it tighter like a blanket, and she didn't hurt him when he held her close.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his lips pressed to the top of her head as she sobbed silently. He didn't bother to hide the tears that welled up in his own eyes.

"Sorry," she seconded.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until he lifted her up and carried her inside. He set her down in a spare bed, in the guest bedroom closest to his own. She fell asleep before her head hit the pillow, and he watched over her, making sure she was okay.

•••

It was several hours later when she woke up to find a plate of Alfred's pancakes and sausage on her bedside table. Bruce waited outside her door, and only came in when she beckoned him to do so. He sat on the edge of her bed and wiped a bit of grime from her cheek, making a mental note to point her towards the shower when she had recovered enough. 

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"No," she admitted.

"Can I help?"

"Yes."

"Stay here, with my family. Be part of my family, Cassandra. I won't leave you alone anymore."

"Okay."


End file.
